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Director Vincenzo Natali Considering Swamp Thing & High Rise

By now I hope everyone has seen the first teaser trailer for Vincenzo Natali's Splice or at least seen some of his earlier films like Cube and Cypher. Vincenzo Natali is a director on the verge of breaking out (despite Cube hit in 1997) and that's thanks to Splicebeing bought by Joel Silver's Dark Castle Ent and getting a wide release from Warner Bros. But what's next for this director? We wrote about an adaptation of a children's novel called Tunnels a few months back, but MTV talked with Natali and learned he's got his sights set on the Swamp Thing movie in the works with Joel Silver and/or an adaptation of J.G. Ballard's High Rise.

Last year, we heard that Joel Silver wanted to adapt Alan Moore's Swamp Thing comic into a 3D movie. Of course, the moment Natali met Silver, he was probably offered the job, because he seems like a perfect fit for that. "[Swamp Thing] kind of became… I don't want to call him an ecological superhero, but he became an ecological character quite unlike anything you've ever seen before," he told MTV. "It's a comic book, but it delves into some very interesting stuff, both psychological and philosophical." Alan Moore's version, not the Universal monster version, is the one "that's a little more interesting to me," Natali says. "It would be — if done properly — extraordinary." I would love to see Natali take on Swamp Thing, let's make it happen.

As for High Rise, based on J.G. Ballard's 1975 novel, that tells of a gigantic building that's become its own society, but "cocktail parties degenerate into marauding attacks on 'enemy' floors and the once-luxurious amenities become an arena for technological mayhem!" Natali himself (via MTV again) describes why this could be a fantastic movie: "I have an adaptation of a J.G. Ballard novel called High Rise that I desperately want to do. This is about a building that is so enormous that it basically functions like a vertically integrated society," Natali explains. "It's about what happens when that [high rise] society collapses… I call it a social disaster film; it's really fun, it's really crazy." Again, that sounds like a great concept that I'd love to see.

If you haven't seen any of Vincenzo Natali's films, do yourself a favor and rent any one of them and watch it this weekend. All of his films are usually very sci-fi with a unique twist and I've come to really enjoy his filmmaking sensibilities, how he plays with the characters, and where he takes the stories (usually to the extremes). Both of these projects, along with that Tunnels adaptation, too, sound like a great fit for Natali and would allow him to continue to grow his directing abilities. If only he could do all three, that would be perfect, but for now we'll keep you updated on whatever it is that Natali decides to direct next. Stay tuned!

Reader Feedback - 7 Comments

1

A fantastic director indeed, and long overdue a hit. Everything he's done so far is great - my favourite (and the one I'd recommend to people new to Natali's work) is a comedy called Nothing. Very Pythonesque, surreal, inventive and silly, and visually unique.

Natali is awesome, love his work. I don't want him to do Swamp Thing, sounds like such a bad idea, especially with 3D. But this High Rise film sounds awesome and for some reason it reminded me of that giant hotel in Fallout 3.

Ben on Apr 7, 2010

3

Havent read Moore's Swamp Thing, but I think they shouldnt bother.
Seems like it will be some Syfy channel crap.
How many people are waiting for a new Swamp Thing movie??

Classified on Apr 8, 2010

4

I need closure, Cube, Cube 2 and Cube Zero never fully answered what was going on. Also I wanted to see the operation stopped and brought down. You know made public!

Link1983 on Apr 8, 2010

5

I grew up on the ORIGINAL Swamp Thing by Len Wren? and art by the great Bernie Wrightson. THAT is the essence of Swamp Thing. The movie that came out decades ago was horrible, campy and totally unlike the gothic world of Swamp Thing. I'd love to see it done right.

uberman on Apr 8, 2010

6

High Rise is a very fine book from the author of Crash (the good one by Cronenberg, not the Oscar-bait message movie). There's the seed of a great, chilly, Kubrickian movie in it for sure, but I doubt it would appeal to mainstream moviegoers much, which is probably why Natali has been developing it for so many years. So I'd imagine Swamp Thing is the project he might tackle next. Quite a departure!

Alan Moores swamp thing was intense!! I was never a fan of the character, but the treatment moore gave it was spectacular and worth reading/watching. The only thing is that NO ONE has made a movie true to Moore's vision! IF a director ever did, he would have some award worthy work!